Nokia to layoff 4,000 employees by the end of 2012, transfer Symbian software activities to Accenture

The Finnish company plans to “to reduce its Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses by 1 billion euros for the full year 2013 in comparison to the full year 2010” – to accomplish this, it (also) needs to reduce its workforce. Thus, Nokia will layoff about 4,000 employees by the end of 2012, most of them currently working on Symbian and MeeGo projects in Finland, Denmark, and the UK.

To find out more details on the future layoffs, you can go here and here.

Nokia has also announced that it would transfer about 3,000 employees to Accenture, sometime before the end of this year. As part of the deal, Accenture would provide Symbian software development and support to Nokia – until Symbian will go extinct, of course.

Accenture will also “provide mobility software, business and operational services around the Windows Phone platform to Nokia and other ecosystem participants.”

Back in the summer of 2009, Accenture bought Nokia’ Symbian Professional Services unit, and then contributed to the development of Symbian^3.

To find out more on the new agreement between Nokia and Accenture, see this press release.